Salvation
by Special Agent Tee-vah
Summary: "So far, how many times have I put you through hell as compared to the number of times that I've saved you?" The question is rhetorical, and to him, the answer is clear.


**Hey! So yeah, sorry that I've been absent, but I'm busy, like, _waaaaaay_ busy. So for now, Words and ILD are gonna go on hold, since I don't have much time to update them. I don't nowwhen I'll update ILD, but I can safely promise a Words update in the next few...weeks? My exams are on now, so I have even less time to write. I'm trying my best to write, but the fact that this year is a streaming year has sucked all of the ideas out of me ): So the time I can promise more constant updates? November. I hate that I can only update then.**

**Okay, so this story is...I don't even know where this came from. It started as three random words, which got forgotten along the way. It kept twisting until I got this, some mutated form of what it was meant to be. It's...different, that's all I gotta say, hee. I actually wrote this yesterday, when I should have been studying for my Literature paper on Romeo and Juliet today... So yeah.**

**Here you go!**

**xx Manda(:**

* * *

His world is black. His head spinning is spinning. Opening his eyes, he instantly shuts them once again, regret pounding in his brain. Maybe it's the regret; maybe it's a concussion. Either way, they're practically the same to him. He knows that he needs to get up, but everything in him tells him to stay down, relieve the pain. _Don't move._ But he's a fighter, so he beats down every rebellious instinct in him, telling him that _no, getting up is a bad idea._ It makes his head throb, and he winces in pain. Next thing he knows, he's being forced to lie back down. A single eye peeks open, and he sees a very familiar looking brunette staring down at him, worry etched on her face. He scans her face, and tries to figure out where he knows her from, when he sees her chain. The Star of David. This was... ah, that's right. His partner.

"A-are you alright?" her words come out in a steady, quick stream, and he takes a while to process them. He opens his mouth to speak, but closes it quickly, settling for a grimace and a short, slow nod, as he lifts his hand to cradle his sore head. She gasps softly, takes off her jacket, folds it into a bundle and lifts him as gently as she possibly can, and places his head on top of it, alleviating the pressure, and sending the blood rushing away from his head. She tells him to rest, that he needs it. His world, once again, dims around him.

* * *

He awakes once more, to see her looking down at him, tenderly. He smiles at her, and a brief look of surprise passes on her face.

"I thought I told you to rest? It has only been a short while," she chastises, yet he smirks. Neither of them have watches, and there is certainly no clock where they are. They both know that, but he's gotta give it to her: she's a very sneaky ninja. She tries to maintain her stare, but under the strange scrutiny of his smirk, she caves, and smiles.

"How is your head?"

"It's been better, but it's fine. Thanks." He groans, and gets up to sit next to her. She glances at him one last time, and dismisses it. There's an awkward silence.

"We-"

"So-"

Silence. He clears his throat.

"Sorry. You first." She nods.

"So, how long do you think we're going to be here?" she sounds nervous; scared.

"I don't know; hours? Maybe a couple of days? I doubt anything longer." It fails to appease her nerves.

"Days, huh?"

"Yep. Don't worry though, you've got me, you aren't alone," he smiles weakly at her. She still doesn't say anything. Instead, she turns away. Suddenly, he realizes something. It suddenly seems crystal clear to him. Or at least, as clear as it can possibly be.

"I get it," his voice is bitter, "I'm the last person you want to be with right now," she stiffens, but refuses to turn around to face him, "you'd rather be alone. Instead of being near the useless ass who's gonna get you killed." At this, her head whips around, and she gives him a horrified look.

"Wh-why would you think that?" she really didn't know what was going on in his head, but she needed to stop this insanity.

"So far, how many times have I put you through hell as compared to the number of times that I've saved you?" The question is rhetorical, and to him, the answer is clear. A million to one. No doubt about it, he was like some sort of danger to her.

"Zero. Zero to an uncountable number of times." He looks up at her at that, incredulous.

"_What?_"

"How many times have you put me through hell as compared to the number of times that you saved me, yes? Each time you put me through hell," He opens his mouth to rebut, but she holds up one finger, "shut up. Each time you put me through hell, you pull me right back out of it, so, your argument is _invalid_." She smiles triumphantly at him, but it's a smile of sadness, it is completely humorless.

"Then-" she cuts him off once again, and he grunts in irritation.

"I need to stay away. Steer clear from all those who matter to me."

"Why?"

"If I stay near them, they will get hurt. They will get hurt because of me," her voice is but a barely audible whisper, "I am like…an angel of death, although angel is hardly the word to describe me."

"Has it ever occurred to you? If you didn't keep close to the ones that mean something to you, that matter to you, you wouldn't have anyone that meant anything to you? You'd be so concerned with keeping them at arm's length. They would just be people; strangers. People that you saw, interacted with everyday, because it was an obligation; a job requirement. Your team, to keep you alive and for you to keep alive, but that would be it. They would mean absolutely nothing more than that. Faces in the crowd; nothing about any of them, of _us_, would mean anything to you. You'd be going through every single day mechanically, robotically. Nothing about anything would mean anything." He tries to reason with her, and she just looks down at the ground.

"If anything, you made our lives more interesting," he grins at her at this.

* * *

Minutes pass; maybe hours. They don't know how long it's been, and frankly, they don't care. They're just sitting there in silence. Every now and then, they start mindless small talk, and fall back into silence. In that span of time, something changed. They moved forward, _finally_. After so long, they finally made progress. They can't explain it, but they know that the trust between them, it's become stronger.

Just as she begins to fall asleep on his shoulder, a light begins to shine down on them from above. It gets brighter, and it stirs her. They look up, and are momentarily blinded by the light.

"Hey, DiNozzo, David! You still alive down there?" a voice barks down at them. The voice is sharp, hard, but if you listen close enough, there's an underlying tone of concern. They see the bright blue eyes, and a sense of relief washes over them. He turns to her, and grins, the happiest he's been in a while.

"Salvation."

* * *

**I don't particularly like how it ended, but eh. I was feeling dramatic :D Also, if you're a Scoop [You'll know what I mean], 5 down, 3 more to go! We can do it! :D Wednesday is FREEDOM. Oh, and if this person sees this... BETH. Does this work? I used them here~ So, review, tell me what you think, and yeah, so...see ya next time (:**


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